Discharge review boards routinely take between one and four years to grant or reject an upgrade application. The VA, however, routinely takes a matter of months to determine whether a veteran without an honorable or general discharge can be designation "honorable for VA purposes."
One advantage for those who pursue character of discharge determination first is this: a favorable decision by the VA will likely lead to a service-connected disability rating, which could include monthly compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) or other mental health conditions. Such disability ratings (along with the favorable VA decision itself) could be incorporated into the veteran's application for military discharge upgrade, thus strengthening the veteran's arguments in favor of a discharge upgrade. In other words, in some cases, it is best for the veteran to pursue success with the VA before pursuing an upgrade. And, of course, the monthly compensation will have commenced much sooner for the veteran, as well.